Check harbor freight. A lot of times they have the very same buffer painted a different color for half the price.

Also, what are you buffing? If you are doing small pinball parts 1/2 hp should be more than enough grunt. I have both sizes and I wouldn't attempt to buff small parts on the 1 hp, too hard to hold on to. I use the bigger buffer for aluminum intake manifolds.

Yep. That should more than do it.

Whenever I buff freshly painted cars, big parts, small parts, etc., I wash the part with naphtha solvent between compounds to avoid cross contamination of compounds. I wear heavy duty disposable nitrile gloves to avoid contaminating the surface with oils and such from touching it with bare hands. The buffing process actually removes small amounts of material, leveling the surface, and exposes the material beneath. I always apply wax to the final buff finish to protect from fingerprints, etc.

Yep! That's it exactly!